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A youth group that managed to raise more than $60,000 to attend World Youth Day in Portugal is testament to the fact that, in fundraising, every little bake sale counts.
World Youth Day is organised by the Catholic Church and runs for a week every 2-3 years.
The Hibiscus Coast Catholic youth group was keen to take part because of a connection with a Portuguese family during lockdown.
Parishioners of St John the Evangelist in Ōrewa and St Francis of Assisi, Whangaparāoa, got behind the group’s fundraising efforts.
Getting 12 people – six youth (aged between 13-17), four youth leaders, a parent/youth leader and the parish priest – to Lisbon cost $42,000 in flights alone.
Parent and youth leader Kathy Ellery says it took almost a year of bake sales, high teas, raffles, flower selling, car washing, a degustation dinner, market day, golf day, Valentine’s dinner, quiz night, concert, pony-cart rides, sausage sizzles and a tapas lunch for 100 people to raise the money.
“It makes me feel tired just thinking about it,” she says. “We raised $200 at our first bake sale and at that point it looked like an impossible task. But it built up slowly and the process bonded our team, developed trust and friendship and brought so much happiness and excitement to the parish.”
“We were blown away by the kindness from our parish and community, whether it was words of encouragement, donations, sponsorship or sharing their gifts and talents. One of our parishioners brought along her miniature horses and we did pony cart rides in our car park. Another painted a beautiful acrylic on canvas for us to raffle. And we had donations of trailer loads of firewood, knitting, flowers, games and chocolate to name a few. What seemed like an unreachable goal at times has come to fruition and we are so grateful to everyone who helped us on this pilgrimage of faith, hope and prayer.”
The group left for Portugal last week – the event started on August 1.
